N140 or N150 in 308

big ears

Well-Known Member
Need to load some 165gr 308 bullets and have data for both N140 and N150. Anyone used either and have a preference. Normally use N140 with my 150gr but wondered if a slightly slower powder would work in a heavier bullet?

cheers

BE
 
Need to load some 165gr 308 bullets and have data for both N140 and N150. Anyone used either and have a preference. Normally use N140 with my 150gr but wondered if a slightly slower powder would work in a heavier bullet?

cheers

BE

I always used N150 for anything at or above 168grain and N135 for anything lighter than that in my 308. I found it worked better for me than N140.
 
Need to load some 165gr 308 bullets and have data for both N140 and N150. Anyone used either and have a preference. Normally use N140 with my 150gr but wondered if a slightly slower powder would work in a heavier bullet?

cheers

BE

Send Sako Boy a Pm. I know he uses N140 in his .308 and he's using either 165 or 168 gr.

jon
 
I don't use N-140 or N-150 in the .308; it is just very uncommon here for me locally, a pain to order and expensive. But I know some federal cops who load it for 168-gr and swear by it.

N-140 is close to RL-15. The VV manual gives 40.0 gr to start and 46.0 max for 2,750 fps.
N-150 is close to 4350. The VV manual gives 41.0 gr to start and 47.9 max for 2,750 fps.

My experience with RL15 and Varget makes me guess 41.5 of N-140 to start, and depending on the brass, 42.5 to 43.5 for a sweet spot with about 2,620 fps from a 24-inch barrel ( which most .308s do not have ).
 
Used a good bit of N150 behind 165gn bullets in .308. I did try N140 (that I used a lot of with lighter bullets to good effect) but I found that the pressure got too high before I got a load that was as accurate as the N150 gave me.

That was only in my rifle and I can think of several people that use N140 with 165 grain bullets in .308 with good accuracy and without a pressure problem.
 
150 gr bullets with 44 grs N140 shoots pretty well in most rifles. Max about 46grs and with a 150 nosler bt was mustard in my rifle.
44.5 grs behind a sierra 2140 165gr is my normal load now.
 
I use N140 mainly as I can load for my 308 &22-250 with the one powder have worked up the loads in both rifles and get great results, saves having different powders so i dont have a chance to get them mixed up
Ray
 
I don't use N-140 or N-150 in the .308; it is just very uncommon here for me locally, a pain to order and expensive. But I know some federal cops who load it for 168-gr and swear by it.

N-140 is close to RL-15. The VV manual gives 40.0 gr to start and 46.0 max for 2,750 fps.
N-150 is close to 4350. The VV manual gives 41.0 gr to start and 47.9 max for 2,750 fps.

My experience with RL15 and Varget makes me guess 41.5 of N-140 to start, and depending on the brass, 42.5 to 43.5 for a sweet spot with about 2,620 fps from a 24-inch barrel ( which most .308s do not have ).

Spot on! Those are almost exactly the figures I got when using N140....but for the 155 Matchkings and 150 gamekings. 43.8gr to 44 gr produces a ragged one hole group with an MV of 2650fps. 43.1 produces a good half inch group which is softer to shoot. Pressure starts to spike once much above 45grains in mine, so I usually back off a grain or so. Unfortunately one drawback of N140 is that it generates velocity more on an asymptotic curve than a straight line so to get the performance from it, you are forced to load hot. N150 produces sweeter shooting characteristics with a slightly slower burn time and often generates better MVs with bullets of 168gr or more.

RS50 (which seems to be almost the same thing as TR140) is similar to N140 but the velocity increase seems to be more linear so you can more easily see where you're going with your loads. I'm about to switch most of my loads over to RS50 for this reason.
 
Let us know how you get on with the RS50! We use that in our target loads at the target rifle club I shoot at, word really well!

I've just loaded up a series of loads from 39 to 45 grains with RS52 (similar to N150) and 165gr Interbonds. I just need to get down the range now to see which is the best one.
 
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